Study of Chirality in the Two-Dimensional XY Spin Glass

TL;DR

This study investigates chirality in a 2D XY spin glass using Monte Carlo simulations, revealing decoupled chiral and spin variables with different divergence exponents as temperature approaches zero.

Contribution

It provides new estimates of the chiral-glass correlation length exponent, supporting the decoupling of chiral and spin degrees of freedom in the 2D XY spin glass.

Findings

Chiral-glass correlation length exponent $ u_{CG} \,=\, 1.8 \pm 0.3$

Chiral and spin variables are decoupled at long length scales

Chiral and spin correlation lengths diverge with different exponents as T approaches 0

Abstract

We study the chirality in the Villain form of the XY spin glass in two--dimensions by Monte Carlo simulations. We calculate the chiral-glass correlation length exponent $\nu_{\scriptscriptstyle CG}$ and find that $\nu_{\scriptscriptstyle CG} = 1.8 \pm 0.3$ in reasonable agreement with earlier studies. This indicates that the chiral and phase variables are decoupled on long length scales and diverge as $T \to 0$ with {\em different} exponents, since the spin-glass correlation length exponent was found, in earlier studies, to be about 1.0.